LETTER THE EDITOR: CITY PARKS ARE OVERFLOWING WITH TRASH
written by Daniel Woods-Evansville
July 10, 2023.
Written by Daniel Woods
July 10, 2023
On March 25, 2023, I made a call to the Mayor’s office about this debris from the August 1 2022 storm and asked what the plan was for this and Hartke Pool. I was pointed to the Evansville Parks Department for further assistance.
My questions seemed simple… What’s the plan for the debris after 8-9 months? Have we reached out to anyone in the community to help us remove this? Are we allowing community members to come to take this for personal use?
Have we reached out to the area nonprofits to see if they can use it?
One of the answers I received was: The Levee authority had taken some, they were using it for projects around Wesselman’s Park and didn’t know how much they would need, What’s it hurting sitting there?
I took pictures that week to document and did the same Friday night. It looks worse than before and it doesn’t seem like those piles were touched. There’s been debris dumped there, but how can we blame people for dumping when there’s been no communication or plan from the Parks Department?
The softball fields are as bad as they’ve ever been. The volleyball safety net has had yellow caution tape around it for nearly a year. 90% of all trash cans are overflowing or have trash all around the cans because they’re overflowing.
Last Friday around 7:00 pm, both softball fields had people playing “pickup” The basketball courts were full. The volleyball courts were both being used, and there were families everywhere. There had to be 300+ people down there using those run-down facilities.
I’m not against the multi-million Pickle-ball project at Wesselman Park but it’s hard to imagine the long-term success of this project when we struggle to maintain our current city parks. It would be nice for some of these issues to be addressed without blaming the economy/workforce for staffing issues. Our parks have real issues that could benefit from positive communication and improved community involvement.
A strong city parks department is vital to our city and its citizens.
FOOTNOTE: Â This article was posted by the City-County Observer without bias or editing.
They took away the basketball courts and the Li”l Otters playground at Garvin’s Park.
Now we have street basketball goals popping up on area city streets that are very dangerous .
The kids in the Jacobsville/Jimtown area cannot afford the new pool and/or limited where to swim in the pool.
You cannot walk around the lake without stepping in goose poop.
The Jimtown/Jacobsville area had two swimming pools in my day , Herndon Pool on North Garvin and Garvin Park pool , also there was one on North Fulton Ave.
Good letter. One term many use for what you describe is “gentrification” or maybe “we don’t see the problem” because we have a case of willful blindness. Is this Republican think or a Winnecke/Schaefer
Well said, Mr. Woods. The plan is simple, there is no plan. The City of Evansville is broke. So what do we do, take a bond and borrow more money, for new projects. They can and will play the blame. Smoke and mirrors is the plan.
Great letter. I too am not opposed to the Pickleball project, only the location. I made my point at many Park Commissioner meetings since July 2022. A simple summary of what really happening here is…Steve Schaefer has “failed” as Parks Director. Mayor Winnecke has chosen not to appoint another permanent director, maybe because his deputy Schaefer is his direct charge. Keeps things “inhouse” you might say. Its obvious they plan to leave that 11 month old mess for the next mayor. The Parks Department was granted $10.5 million by the City Council and this is what we have. Shameful
Thanks Don.
Glad to see your reading these posts. People are trying to tell you how they feel and it doesnt seem to matter to the Parks Dept. Pictures dont lie. Our parks are a mess and you’ve been in charge two years now.
Many say they call the Parks Dept and no one answers. Maybe this site is the how to get a response.
Wednesday July 12, 2023 – Is It True excerpt:
IS IT TRUE that a well-respected local entrepreneur recently wrote a “Letter To The CCO Editor� …that he brought up the obvious poor maintenance issues at the Evansville City Parks? …that his letter was very well researched and documented concerning the poor conditions of our parks and swimming pools? …that we give local citizen and entrepreneur Daniel Woods 5 cheers for standing up and speaking his mind concerning the obvious blight issues at our city parks?
Well said in your letter. The plan is simple, there is no plan. The City of Evansville is financially broke. Their answer, borrow more money, and build more projects, while what we currently have is not maintained. There are always lots of excuses and blame. All smoke and mirrors. First mayoral candidate that agrees to an independent audit of all city finances, has my vote. An audit would be money well spent.
The Parks management under Winnecke/Schaefer could not be worse if they tried. An analysis of $$$ spent versus number of residents served for each expenditure under their care would be appalling. But hey— the recipients of sweetheart leases for our publicly funded assets are happy. Winneckee/Schaefer are attempting to “ donate†our city parks land too, specifically the media said the Par 3 to a non-profit. I can find no legal basis for such an action. With a lease the city can cancel a poorly performing non-profit but if they own the land—-it is not right. I’ve worked and paid taxes on the land since 1978. The city can not DONATE it away.
I love these comments. Is anyone listening? I don’t think so. Jean Webb has worked many hours on Save Wesselmans Park. The city is not hearing us. Vote out the ones who can’t hear our cry. Mr Murphy I love your idea. Independent audit of all city finances. What a great idea!
Great comments by all except Steve Schaefer. What a sarcastic response to such a serious issue. That tells me that that Mr. Schaefer isn’t listening and doesn’t really care what the citizens of Evansville think. Of course, we’ve known this about Mr. Schaefer for a very long time. Question is…why does his boss continue to let Mr. Schaefer have such disregard for the state of our city parks? Maybe the mayor doesn’t much care either.
My opinion, Schaefer follows orders.
Whatever happened to former parks director Holz who resigned and is facing criminal charges of fraud, forgery, counterfeiting and official misconduct?
A two year-long investigation by the State Board of Accounts found more than half a million dollars worth of questionable purchases were made while he was the director.
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